perfect wedding shoes

This past week I attended LOTS of important meetings...and a couple fancy dinners.  (The end of the year AND the beginning of the year activities are happening at the same time at my residency program - so life is double trouble exciting.)  Also, I've been checking out new job opportunities...so interviews and oral examinations and yada yada yada is keeping me at full speed.

All of this has been great fun!   I get to wear REAL clothes...lots of professional attire...which for me tends to be dresses...instead of the scrubs and white coat that I typically wear every day.  I have been wearing my hair down and curly almost daily too...instead of my usual messy bun or braid.  AND REAL SHOES.  Not my Dansko's...or my Crocs...or my running shoes...or my flip flops or my Birkenstocks.  Nope.  PRETTY shoes.

Mainly, my wedding shoes.  My mustard yellow Frye shoes with a little peep toe and a short(ish) heel.  They really were the most perfect wedding shoes.  I've worn them a million times since my wedding...and I just adore them.  I wore them nearly every day last week...and didn't have sad painful crying feet at all!  Not even for one minute.  You can revisit my post about there here!

Nothing beats a comfortable pair of beautiful shoes.  I should know...I am a foot doctor after all :-)

sandalista: design your own sandals + giveaway!

I recently found out about Sandalista - custom printed sandals that are made in the USA.  Since then I have found myself becoming QUITE the designer of flip flops in my spare time (I jest...but I literally couldn't help myself from designing a few fun pairs!! I used pictures of my trip to Hawaii from a few years back...a couple scenes from the desert, and clara's colorful toys...oh man...I'm somewhat of a sandal designing addict now.)

You can upload your own photos or art work and have them printed onto high quality flip flops...and then select the footbed color and strap color.  They also have artists, designers and photographers who have created an assortment of ready made designs that are fantastic too!  (You can even read about the artists who created them...I like that feature!)  I had a heck of a time selecting which pair I wanted - one of the pairs I designed or one of the rad designs featured on their site.  CHOICES!  I ended up getting a pretty pair designed by Kari DelVecchio...tooooo pretty to resist.  AND I LOVE THEM (the quality reminds me of Havaianas.)  I wore them all weekend in our cozy little appartment, as the temp outside was not exactly conducive to sandals. 

*I tried a few times to download my designs to show you - but I couldn't figure out how to do it...I'm somewhat of an idiot when it comes to computers and such...so you HAVE to go check out how awesome these sandals are on the website!  Go design some!

Oh - and they aren't a fortune...only $24 bucks.  Fun bridesmaid gift!

One of you will WIN A PAIR OF YOUR OWN Sandalistas!  Just add your name to the comments section below!  Winner will be selected at random on Monday, March 12.

Good luck! 

dream wedding shoes

alll of photos by One Love Photo

I purchased a pair of royal blue shoes for the wedding.  They were cute, and CHEAP.  But they ended up being horribly uncomfy...horribly.  And I am not one to compromise comfort for fashion - nope, not me.

So, I got a different pair.  And they just happened to be the freaking cutest shoes EVER in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD!

They were yellow!  (The color I always wanted!)  They had a small heel, a lil peep toe, and were crazy comfy for me to get my groove on all night long.

They were, quite honestly, my dream shoes.

And what's even more rad is that I've worn them a TON since the wedding - love that.  And yes, I think of my wedding every time I slip them on.  I win.

*note:  I had a few comments (and emails!) about where I got my shoes, and what kind of shoes they are.  So... I got them from Zappos.com (amazing selection and phenomenal return policy).  I ordered a few different pairs, and shipped the others back.   Unfortunately, the pair I fell in love with was the priciest option...but I could somewhat justify it in the sense that I haven't purchased a NICE pair of shoes in years.  A lil treat to myself that I will clearly have for years to come (oh, and they look great with jeans....double whammy).  The brand is Frye (they make beautiful footwear...obvs.)

victory #13: my shoes

I have yet to tell you about my shoes.

I wanted yellow.  Not a bright sunshiny yellow...but a darker mustard yellow...and since I can't typically wear heels for longer than an hour or two...I really loved the idea of rocking flats.  Plus...how can I walk on the nature trails with my love that day if I wear heels?

And then I changed my mind and fell in love with dark teal....and thought teal shoes would be really cool.

So what did I buy?

A pair of royal blue Nina heels.  Random.  Yes.  I know.

They happen to be wicked comfortable (umm...welllllllll...they were comfortable when I put them on in the store, and that doesn't always equate to actual "real life" comfort...so we'll see).  I wasn't looking for shoes while I was out that day...they just sorta jumped at me.  The price was right.   So I bought them.  Even though they weren't yellow or teal...umm...or flats.  They are blue....and they are heels.  (A lil weird right?)  I guess this solidifies the fact that I'm a compulsive shopper...instead of hunting for "just the one most perfect thing" I grab what will work and move on.  Except our flowers....hummm....I thought long and hard about the flowers. 

I fully realize that my heels will get stuck in the earth as I enjoy all that is rustic Flagstaff...maybe I'll pick up a pair of those heel guard things.  Whatevs.

I probably won't wear these shoes much after the wedding.  (They happen to match my blue graduation dress...so I will get to wear them four days after the wedding for that....but then...I dunno.)  See, I do believe in good shoewear...I do invest in them...my Dankso's...my Chacos....my Naots....shoes I wear to work everyday.  Therefore, I chose not to go overboard with a pair of pricey pumps I might only wear once or twice...ever.   


One more thing I get to cross off the "to do" list.  

*note: if you are wondering about the random signage that my shoes are stepping all over in these images...it's our coffee table.  I picked up a wonderful art book of vintage pharmaceutical advertisements at a used bookstore...cut them out...arranged them...and then applied a liquid epoxy to the top...which hardened to a flat shiny plastic surface.  Oh...and then I painted the rest of the table a bright red.  It kinda rules.  Anyway...that's that.

wellies for rain

flickr

I've never owned a pair of galoshes (and yes, that's what I grew up calling them....not Wellington's, or Wellies, or rain boots...they were galoshes). There's not a huge need for rain gear in Arizona. Obviously. It rains like 3 inches a year or something like that.

Except, the Farmer's Almanac predicted rain for our wedding day. Well - it didn't specifically say RAIN ON MAY 30th - but it indicated that it is a rainy time (and apparently it's a notorious date for rain and snow. *grin*)

Am I bummed? A little...yea. I really want our ceremony to be outside. I really want to skip in the meadows, and along the hiking paths lined with Aspens and Pines. Well. We'll see. It still might be ideal weather...and I actually adore rain anyway.

So now I'm toying around with the idea of getting some cute galoshes...I'm thinking bright yellow.

frolic!

flickr

Project 10K Wedding

Veil Tales

MyWeddingStory

flickr
BridesCafe

here

shoe-in

Feather's & Frills

I've been browsing shoes lately. It's fun. (Especially with my sister Leslie...the girl is straight mad about darling shoes...)

Surprisingly, I'm loving the ones with the fun stuff glued all over the front of them... the ruffles, the flowers, the feathers. This is interesting because usually I'm quite the plain Jane...and am seriously considering just wearing Chaco's to my own wedding (have you ever worn Chaco's? a life altering experience...for real.)

That's why these shoe clips are beyond bodacious...take a pair of simple shoes and make 'em dazzling.

I'm love love loving these shoe clips from Etsy. It's too hard to pick my favorite.

bpoetic

Feathers & Frills

Fabulize

Cultivar

RouziliGarden

Fascinating Creations

christian makes pretty sandals

I've seen several posts on different bridal blogs where the brides splurge on DIVINE foot wear. I've seen lots of Jimmy Choo's, Christian Louboutin's, and Minolo Blanik's. Many of these brides justify their splurge because they will be able to wear those stellar stilletos again.

I'm all about a bridal splurge or two! But dang. My feet would kill after 5 minutes. No matter how amazing the design, I just can't even look at them without clenching my toes in anxiety.

I'd rock the Christian Louboutin's pictured below...they are a close relative to the mile high shoes above, but these are foot friendly. But in real life, whatever I end up wearing, I know I'll wish I was in my Chaco's.

real life: blue shoes in arizona

I don't know how she does it, but Green Wedding Shoes always manages to find the coolest wedding pictures. This, of course, isn't a mountain wedding...but so many elements of this wedding I think are so awesome and I have to include it here.

1. I've always really thought it would be beyond cool for a bride to wear blue shoes - I love this bride's choice...and think of all the gazillions of times she'll get to rewear 'em!
2. her hair flower rocks
3. her hair is fantastic and fun
4. her dress = amazing
5. I dig the southwesterny feel of Arizona in many of those pictures...what can I say, I'm an Arizonan.
6. the pic of her and her girls looks like it came straight out of a JCrew catalog
7. those balloons